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| "Happy Diwali, Aunty and Uncle." That was the greeting we received from these two children who we often see on our way to our morning jog. |
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| Most of the day was filled with laundry and schoolwork. Mark and Gurneet dropped by on their way to drop off gifts of sweets to several supporters of UFV Chandigarh. In the evening, we dressed in our finery and prepared for a night of Diwali Celebrations with the Anand family. Unfortunately, Mark was not able to join us. |
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| Dilmeet also stopped by. Diwali is a day when people do a lot of visiting. |
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| We had to get a girls picture because we thought we looked mighty fine! |
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| On our way out for the evening, we had a quick visit with Mr. Sodhi and his family. He is our landlord and lives below us on Floor 0. |
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| Gurneet found two girls who consented to pose with him. |
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| Our first stop was the Gurdwara. |
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| Here we placed lighted candles. |
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| It is the Festival of Light and so candles were placed on top of the wall that surrounds the temple. |
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| Ninni placed hers.... |
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| As did Ishpreet. |
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| Satwinder Ma'am posed with Adam, Kathryn and Stacy. |
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| This little girl was intrigued with us and asked where we were from. She was happy when I offered to "click a snap" of her with two beautiful Canadian girls. |
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| When we arrived at the Anand home, Ninni lighted all her candles. These ones are at the front door and are a welcome item. Mostly she wanted the goddess Lakshmi to feel welcome but we did, too. |
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| She also had a platter of flowers and candles. |
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| Jackie was enjoying her first Diwali in India. |
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| After dinner, Ishpreet warmed up his guitar and we hoped he would sing a few songs. |
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| But, we were interrupted by the loud bangs from outside . Fireworks were in full swing. They are very popular at this time of year and people spend hundreds of dollars to purchase fancy rockets, and such things. It is very interesting to read a Facebook post by one of our students, Sameer Valecha, and also read in the newspaper about the growing sentiment to ban fireworks. Sound familiar? In addition to the concern about safely, there is concern about air pollution. The air is now thick with smoke. |
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| Satbir took a break from his role in the kitchen to pose with George. Ninni has the three men in her household well trained. They are very helpful in the kitchen and with serving. |
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| A couple of Moms! |
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| The delicious dinner was topped off with a tasty dessert. |
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| A well-fed and happy group--although we missed the company of Mark. |
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| So, Happy Diwali! May you live in rooms full of light! And may you have good friends like the Anands who graciously include you in their important family celebrations! Tomorrow morning, early, we are off on the train to Delhi with Mark, Satwinder and Jackie. It is already time for them to head home. Gurneet, George and I will spend tomorrow night in Delhi and catch an early flight back to Chandigarh on Thursday morning in time for class. |
